When Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) left the Democratic party last December and registered as an independent, it didn’t seem to be a parting of the ways that was filled with acrimony. She struck a deal to keep her committee assignments and maintain a loose relationship with the Senate Democrats, so it almost seemed as if nothing had changed but the party affiliation letter in the media that came after her name.
United States senators tend to be collegial a lot of the time, so none of that was surprising. Back here in Arizona, however, things were playing out much differently.
The people in charge of the Democratic party in Arizona loathe Sinema. It wasn’t the very public policy disagreements that she was occasionally having with her colleagues in the Senate that initially fueled Sinema’s party switch, it was the ugliness at home. Despite the fact that Sinema is still a die-hard leftist on most issues, you had a much better chance of finding a Republican here who would say something nice about her by the time Christmas rolled around last year.
Judging from an article that my friend and colleague Stephen Green passed along to me, it would now appear that the relationship between Sinema and Democrats has soured all around.
As she races to stockpile campaign money and post an impressive, statement-making first-quarter fundraising number, Sinema has used a series of Republican-dominated receptions and retreats this year to belittle her Democratic colleagues, shower her GOP allies with praise and, in one case, quite literally give the middle finger to President Joe Biden’s White House.
And that’s before an audience.
Speaking in private, whether one-on-one or with small groups of Republican senators, she’s even more cutting, particularly about Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom she derides in harshly critical terms, according to senior Republican officials directly familiar with her comments.
Ouch.
Sinema’s contrarian ways when she was a registered Democrat led to a lot of irrational exuberance among some Republican officials and voters that she might one day join the party, or at least caucus with the Republicans. Whenever that comes up in conversation, I assure everyone that it won’t happen. The Politico article mentions this, and says that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “remains skeptical” on this point as well.
It’s nice to see that he can still get some things right.
Given her history, it’s not difficult to speculate about Sinema caucusing with the GOP just to stick it to the Dems. That’s not really her style though. She’s a free spirit, but not a wild card. Her disagreements with the Democrats were driven by the fact that Arizona is a very purple state and she may be one of the last people in Congress who truly grasps the role of an elected official in a representative republic.
The article breaks down what may or may not happen next year when Sinema has to defend her seat. Hitting that point-by-point would require another column, but I’ll mention a couple of things. Politico says that Doug Ducey — our recently term-limited governor — doesn’t want to run. He was adamant about that leading up to the 2022 midterms, but I have heard the occasional whisper since then that he might be thinking about running next year. Just rumors, but from people who know things.
The article also says that some in Sinema’s inner circle think she’ll bail and not run at all if it looks like she’ll lose. I’ve gotten that vibe from her for a while now. The Arizona Democratic Party will do all it can to destroy her next year. It’s unclear how much that will change the minds the average Democrats in Arizona who voted for Sinema in 2018, but we do have a lot of elderly voters here who are still swayed by things like misleading snail mail campaigns.
One thing is certain, Sinema isn’t going to be invited to many Senate Democrat soirees anymore:
“Those lunches were ridiculous,” she told a small group of Republican lobbyists at a reception in Washington this year in explaining why she had stopped attending her caucus’ weekly luncheons in the Capitol, according to an attendee.
First off, she explained, she was no longer a Democrat. “I’m not caucusing with the Democrats, I’m formally aligned with the Democrats for committee purposes,” Sinema said. “But apart from that I am not a part of the caucus.”
Then she let loose.
“Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are,” Sinema recounted to gales of laughter. “I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.”
I chuckled when I first read “Old dudes are eating Jell-O,” and I don’t chuckle a lot. I may have to borrow that line (with attribution, of course). Hey, she’s my senator.
Kyrsten Sinema gets called a lot of things by a lot of people these days.
“Boring” is never one of those things.
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